Employee Videos: Where's the "Sweet Spot?"
Thursday, January 15, 2009 at 07:32AM Employees can be tough video critics.
Which makes producing internal videos that resonate with employees quite challenging.
How do I know? Because I spent 10 years as an employee and as a video producer with a Fortune 100 firm. My challenge was two-fold: produce the best stories possible that resonated with every employee. Not an easy task!
Let’s face it.
Producing videos that resonate with employees can be difficult.
• Boring videos? Click. Gone. Forever.
• Fancy videos? Click. Eyes roll. Skepticism enters.
So, where’s the “sweet spot?”
In your people. In their stories. In their voice. From their perspective.
No doubt, having a regular stream of videos being produced that employees have access to is important.
But more importantly, are the videos creating an “A-ha!” moment?
• Do they allow employees to see the “big picture?”
• Do they give employees a glimpse into a new or different reality?
• Do they create an honest framework for employees to understand and believe in?
Employees love stories.
So give them stories. Even if an organization has a systematic and distribution method for employees to see the videos, if those videos are missing a personal point of view, the chance to harness the real potential of video, the power of story, might be missing.
Here are three things I discovered that might surprise you about the simple power of authentic video stories for employee communications.
1. Understanding Context
What is our company’s vision? What are its plans in the near future? How are we all connected? Does my role really matter? How can we take better care of our customers?
Since many employees often don’t understand the “big picture” of an organization, questions like these swim around the corridors of companies all the time.
Short video stories from either senior management, the “floor,” or even customers can give employees another worldview from which to see their role. In a matter of a few minutes, employees can see how their team or department is integrated into other remote areas of their organization.
2. Boosting Morale
Companies are perpetually seeking ways to boost morale. Producing interviews in an open and honest way can go along way to reducing the rumors and lack of information in an employee’s mind. You’d be amazed how simple and effective this technique is in video. You’d also be amazed how infrequently it is used. Most employees don’t want to watch fancy videos; they simply want to see and understand the world around them in clear, simple, honest ways.
3. Feeling Connected
One of the greatest benefits video offers employees is the opportunity to feel connected to one another. For example, in many companies employees don’t have access to see or hear from senior management on a regular basis.
Just imagine the response if employees had the chance to see candid, unrehearsed conversations from their leadership team.
Or imagine seeing and hearing a team of doctors describing their five-year vision to create a ground-breaking facility to help future patients. Imagine employees sharing their dream of launching a new product or service globally. In just a matter of a few minutes, employees can feel connected in ways that matter to them.
Looking for another way to increase employee engagement?
Consider capturing simple authentic video stories for your organization. I’ve been surprised many times. You may be, too.
---Tom
P.S. Originally posted on my FastCompany column, "Let's See That Again!"
Employee Videos: Where's the "Sweet Spot?"
Reader Comments (2)
Thanks for sharing that. It's amazing how simple it can be; yet how powerful the results. I've experienced the same thing for so many years. Capturing natural video conversations without being contrived goes along way toward building trust among all parties. Easy, but so few do it.
Tom